SWNOVELXO Chapter 20 - Girls Are Just That Easy to Understand
Chapter 020: Girls Are Just That Easy to Understand
Sounds echoed in the darkness.
“Damn those bastards. Could they have been eaten by the beasts?”
“Hopefully. If they weren’t, boss would make them wish they were dead.”
“You think those guys were killed by the people from that small camp?”
“Are you kidding? Who would dare offend our boss? They must have a death wish.”
“Good point.”
Three dust-covered men grumbled as they hurried along the road.
As scouts for the Bloodbeard Bandit Crew, traveling at dawn was a routine task.
As long as they weren’t moving at midnight, they could avoid the beasts—otherwise, their chances of survival would drop to ten percent.
Besides, they had special ways to evade some of the creatures. If luck wasn’t on their side and they couldn’t avoid an encounter, they could only resign themselves to death.
The Bloodbeard Bandit Crew had no use for the weak. Anyone who wasn’t skilled enough was either sent to work as a slave or left to suffer a fate worse than death.
“How much farther?” one of them asked.
“We should arrive by sunrise.”
“Why is the boss working with those people from the camp? Why not just kill them and take their stuff?”
“Don’t forget what happened last time. We ran into a pack of Moon Wolves and lost a lot of men. The boss probably wants to replenish our numbers.”
“Yeah, that was bad luck. I heard all the scouts from that trip died.”
“Keep your voice down. Let’s just focus on moving.”
The three fell silent, pressing on.
Occasionally, they would stop to rest or crouch behind rocks to avoid passing beasts.
By the time the sky turned a reddish-orange, signaling dawn, they stood atop a hill, looking toward a camp in the distance—no bigger than a fist from where they stood.
“Look! Is that the camp?” one of them asked excitedly.
“That’s the one.”
The lead scout gave instructions. “We’ll sneak in from three different directions and meet back here.”
“No problem.”
With the plan set, they moved toward the camp.
But as they got closer, their expressions darkened.
There was no sign of life. Not a single sound. The place felt completely abandoned.
“Thud!”
One of the scouts suddenly tripped and fell.
“What the hell?” He quickly got up, looking around to see what had tripped him.
He checked for a while but saw nothing.
“Weird…” His wariness grew.
All three of them tripped as they entered the camp.
After investigating, they returned to the hill to share their findings.
“The doors were left open, and anything important was gone. They left in a hurry.”
“The charcoal in their fire wasn’t completely burned out. They must have left before dawn.”
“Same on my end.”
The three exchanged uneasy looks.
“Damn it! They ran!” one of them cursed.
“They haven’t been gone for long. Should we track them down?” another asked.
“You go after them,” the leader ordered. “Find their trail and leave markers along the way.”
“The rest of us will return to report to the boss.”
“You think the boss will come after them himself?”
“Are you an idiot? Those people dared to fool the boss. With his temper, of course he’ll chase them down.”
“If they left yesterday, maybe the boss wouldn’t bother. He’d just send some men to hunt them down.”
“But now? Heh… they’re as good as dead.”
“Enough about the boss. Let’s rest for a bit before heading back to report.”
“Got it.”
After eating, the three lay down to rest.
About half an hour later, they split into two groups and left.
Once they were gone, a massive rock lizard, two meters long, emerged from the cliffside.
It had been watching them the whole time from less than five meters away.
“Hiss…”
The tricolored lizard flicked its tongue, staying still as it received instructions from Mu Liang.
Moments later, it crawled down and followed the two scouts.
—
Meanwhile, several kilometers away, a Rock Armor Turtle lay dozing between the hills.
If one didn’t look closely, they wouldn’t even realize it was a turtle.
Ever since it learned to use evolution points instead of food, it no longer worried about eating and became even lazier.
“No major deviations from the plan. The setup was a success. Time to move on to the next phase.”
Mu Liang smiled as he stretched by the fire pit.
At around three in the morning, he had gone to the camp and set fire to their wood piles.
He had barely slept four hours before the Red Ghost Spider alerted him—someone had triggered the silk traps.
He had then observed the three scouts, analyzing their movements.
As expected, they had fallen for the ruse.
Now, he had sent the tricolored lizard to track two of them back to the Bloodbeard base.
Meanwhile, the Red Ghost Spider was tasked with eliminating the third scout to prevent him from realizing something was wrong and doubling back, which would ruin everything.
“Crap! I overslept!”
Mino burst out of her room, her rabbit ears standing straight up, her hair messy, and a wolf pelt clutched in her arms.
Seeing Mu Liang, she panicked. “Mu Liang! We have to hurry to the camp and set the fire!”
“No need.”
As soon as Mu Liang finished speaking, she looked like she was about to cry.
Not wanting to tease her further, he said gently, “I already lit the fire last night.”
“Really? We didn’t miss the timing?” Mino hugged the wolf pelt tightly, sniffling cutely.
“The timing was perfect. The scouts have already fallen for it.”
Mu Liang stepped forward and adjusted her collar—it had nearly slipped off her shoulder.
“Eek!”
Mino’s face instantly turned red. She let out a cute squeak and scrambled back to her room in a flustered panic.
A moment later, her voice rang out from inside.
“Mu Liang! Why didn’t you wake me when you went to light the fire?”
Before bed, she had specifically told him to wake her so she could help.
“I forgot.”
In truth, Mu Liang had seen how soundly she was sleeping and hadn’t wanted to wake her.
She had spent the entire day helping build the house and stacking wood. Unlike him, her body hadn’t been strengthened multiple times—she was already exhausted.
“Hmph!” Mino pouted, knowing full well he was making excuses.
She felt a little guilty for not helping.
Mu Liang glanced at her door and casually said, “Breakfast is on you today. Think you can handle it?”
“Of course!”
Mino immediately popped out of her room. “Leave it to me!”
“Alright, then I’ll count on you.”
As Mu Liang turned away, the corners of his lips lifted slightly.
Girls really are just that easy to understand.